DA1 Patriot's Crisis
by Ameslan
Summary: I wrote this story about 10 years ago. It is DIE HARD on a Starbase. A former Agent of UFP Intelligence gets called back into action when Romulans invade the Starbase he is now assigned to. First of about 8 stories with same cast.


Some background: These stories were written for a Star Trek based literary Sci-Fi fan club, named the _Drakmärian Alliance_, which revolved around the publication of a Fanzine. This 'zine had developed characters and events which ran in parallel to those of **_The Next Generation_** genre. An annual vote was taken by the membership to determine the top stories of the year. The following story was one of the top three vote getters. Each story will have author's notes at the end to give a commentary on the writing process.

Fictional Background: within the past century, Drakmär IV took exploration to the stars after an encounter with, and betrayal by the Romulans, the planet became embroiled in a brutal civil war, known as the Krizu. Following this, they allied themselves with the Federation who helped them rebuild in exchange for certain concessions. Currently, a Starfleet standard orbital Starbase built in a cooperative effort with the natives is in place and many of the officers involved in the exchange program have volunteered to transfer to enhance the ranks of the Alliance's Star Corps. Since this territory is located within the Neutral Zone between Romulan and Klingon territories, a loose alliance of convenience is in place with the Klingons.

Drakmär IV—a planet on the Federation border of what was the 'triangle'–the section of the Romulan neutral zone that bordered on Klingon territory as well. It has a class M moon that is home to the new Fleet Development Center, which is the planet side companion to the orbital station.

Drakmärians—a Vulcanoid species with Klingonoid tendencies.

TANELORN—fleet flagship, the original was destroyed while protecting a peace conference from a Romulan attack force

Lunärian—massive, 'hulking', 7 foot tall, and EXTREMELY strong beings with a natural chameleon ability

This story intended as the first installment of a trilogy. Continuing with _Renegade's Blood_ and concluding with _Lady In Distress_. All three can be read as one continuous story as elements from each spill over into the others.

This story is dedicated to the memory of the late Rev. Gerald 'Jerry' "Hey Dude!" Oliver, a beloved friend and 'brother', who died of injuries resulting from an automobile accident (involving a drunken driver) at the time this was being written. Plus a special thanks to all those who helped with this project: the fan club members who created the characters plus the writers of the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual and the Apple Macintosh 'AppleWorks' program. And especially publishing flunkies and invaluable idea mongers club President Nitehawk Jarrett and Zachariah Durkin, my roommate (who died of cancer soon after this story won the award)

With the _MERCY_ out of commission, the new _TANELORN_ under construction, and the other _SPACEDOCK CHARLES DARWIN_ vessels' crews are planetside assisting with the expedition of the completion of the planetside _FLEET DEVELOPMENT CENTER_, the Spacedock finds itself UNDER SIEGE by hostile forces! If the skeleton crew aboard cannot stop the base's awesome firepower from being used to hold Drakmär IV hostage in the galaxy's most incredible overture of terrorism and conquest, then they are most assuredly going to DIE HARD trying!

"A _patriot's crisis_ is that he or she may one day be called to action, not as a matter of duty to deity, government, or fellowman, rather as a matter of wits concerning self-preservation!" Drakmär IV Primus Sh'kr-Z at the height of the _Krizu _civil war.

These are the logs of the _SPACEDOCK CHARLES DARWIN_.

An orbital facility high above Drakmär IV's Class M moon, T'bias;

in geosynchronous orbit of the Fleet Development Center.

Its mission: To maintain the Alliance Star Corps Fleet,

To promote peace while maintaining the balance of power;

by being a way-station and home to thousands of beings in an effort

to boldly take truth, integrity, and honor one step ahead!

STAR TREK

THE NEW BREED

PATRIOT'S CRISIS

(alternate titles: Siege of the Sky; Last to Surrender)

"You may be the Captain of this vessel; however, I am the ranking officer here and since this is a Medical Emergency, it falls under my jurisdiction. Therefore I am ordering that we bypass established protocol in this matter and bring them over directly by the quickest means possible. I know you will file a protest on this and that is your right, now we all have our jobs to do and leave me to do mine…PLEASE!" High Admiral Joe Vitro switched off the Comm panel on his desk and hefted his slight girth out of the chair to enter the _MERCY's_ massive sickbay. Two hours ago, a cargo vessel had had an accident of undetermined origin and the Hospital Ship had been dispatched to render aid. Vitro was uncomfortable with the situation as the _MERCY_ had just completed a shakedown run after a major systems overhaul following the battle that had destroyed the original _TANELORN_ and her crew was compiled of volunteers from the other Spacedock crews. Upon arrival on scene, a bloodied Drakmärian had transmitted that: "_life support was inoperative and they had less than five minutes until a failure in contai…_" That was all the aging Surgeon General had needed to hear in order to institute emergency evacuation. However, the Drakmärian Captain who had been assigned to be his temporary First Officer until his permanent crew was completely assembled had reminded him that the endangered craft was not registered and had advised on the prudence of caution, which Vitro, true to form, had promptly declined.

"O.K. people, be ready for action! We gotta bunch of injured on their way over and I don't want things getting any nastier than they already are", the Doctor gave his little pep talk as he charged through the Sickbay on his way to the Bridge. Five minutes later, things got nastier than Vitro's legendary perverse sense of humor. The transfer was going smoothly, if a bit hectic, which Vitro attributed to the moment's expediency, when everything went wrong. He was expecting the vessel to explode, but not nearly as violently as it did. Since the _MERCY_ had had her shields down, it took several minutes until power was restored. It was during this time that the crew of the other vessel who had just been transported over to the _MERCY_ hijacked her. Vitro first became aware of this as he was heading toward Shuttlebay six to assist with triage, he tapped his combadge and addressed his Andorian Security Chief,

"Lieutenant Khorviis, _damage report_ please". No answer. Annoyed, Vitro tried again, "Security, this is Vitro..." his voice trailed off in alarm as he realized that the unfamiliar electronic buzz of his communicator indicated that communications were down at the Core, further indicating outside interference! He ran back to his quarters, removed his combadge, and grabbed his spare phaser, determined to reclaim his ship. He charged down the hallway, taking the fastest route to the Primary Hull's Auxiliary Bridge. He got there unchallenged and began feeding hull module separation commands into the HELM station when he heard an electronic whine behind him; but before he could turn to identify the source, his legs went numb and his knees gave out, sending Vitro crashing to the floor!

"Computer, abort separation sequence", A familiar deep voice ordered and the computer chirped as it complied. As Vitro adjusted his weight to face his antagonist, his temporary First Officer, he uttered a curse at the rebel Drakmärian's deity to which the alien yawned,

"If I were not P'linza, that curse might offend me if only that ridiculous book of those religious fanatics did not say '_The Lord and His Children cannot be in any manner defiled; therefore, should anyone attempt such, their own actions shall cause their own defilement to befall them_'. At any rate, you humans are so predictable…" At that moment a third voice cut in, since the P'linza cult were rebels who had recently made an alliance with the most dangerous race in the galaxy, Vitro readily guessed the identity of the individual who had shot him,

"Enough of this worthless idle chatter, we will be reaching our objective in one hour, Dr. Vitro any attempt at resistance will be punished, observe," The Viewer came to life, subdivided into eight screens, each showing a view of one of the _MERCY's_ Shuttlebays, loaded with crewmembers, Bay Doors open. "any attempt to resist and one of those shields will be discontinued". As feeling returned to his stunned legs he turned to face the second speaker who had just threatened his crew's lives and his blood froze. His guess was correct. _Romulan_!

Fleet Captain Zach Dermon was quite content with himself. He was returning from a week-long Shore Leave which he had chosen to spend on the planet designated _Gateway_, which had been aptly nicknamed '_Foreverworld_' as it was home to the enigmatic _Guardian of Forever_ time portal. Zach had been wading through bureaucratic red tape for the past six months getting clearance to go to the planet as access was severely restricted since there had been several occasions in which people had inadvertently altered the time stream. He had been researching ways to incorporate the new ROGUE-class Corvette fighter craft as the older style WASP, one of which he was currently aboard, had had its systems upgraded so far the design concept had been rendered obsolete.

Dermon had theorized that since the Corvette vessel was essentially a small, fast, and powerful attack craft–basically the Federation's three man answer to the Klingon Bird of Prey–he could learn more about design theory by simply going back to basics. He had gone to the era of Earth history during which '_air superiority fighters_' (the concept of a comparatively crude reaction thrust driven atmospheric vessel being the most advanced combat weapon system available struck the engineer as being both amazing and funny) were at the height of their Research and Development. This had also given him, as a pilot, a chance to realize a dream and fly a real United States Air Force (an ancient division of that country's defense obligated to the security of the nation and it's allies from atmospheric threat forces) Fighter number sixteen designated the '_Fighting Falcon_'. Although it had been an absolute thrill, there was still no comparison with the Corvettes. Dermon was now en route to a rendezvous with the Starfleet Heavy Cruiser _RESOLUTION_, which would escort him back to his post as Commanding Officer of the _SPACEDOCK CHARLES DARWIN_. As he neared the prearranged coordinates, the Navigational Computer snapped him out of his reverie by indicating it was time to prepare for the rendezvous according to his preprogrammed instructions by dropping out of Warp and hailing the _RESOLUTION_. Just as Dermon was about to return the Corvette to Manual Control, the vessel was flipped end over end and slammed out of Warp. Over the blaring alert klaxon, Dermon shouted,

"Computer, what is going on!"

"The vessel was struck broadside by an energy wave emanating from the Starfleet Heavy Cruiser _U.S.S. RESOLUTION_"

"Cause?" A concerned Dermon queried. The dispassionate voice replied,

"Antiproton flushback". Dermon's blood froze as he knew that, theoretically, the only thing that could produce an Antiproton_ flushback_ was the explosion of Warp Engines!

Station Log; Grand Fleet Admiral Dartanion Jarrad II Commanding; Stardate 48909.4, Being without the _TANELORN_ for the past month has left me restless. There has been very little excitement around here recently. Hopefully, my meeting with Communications Specialist Second Class Carson at 0900 hours will alleviate the minor boredom. He has asked that he be sent to the Relay Station orbiting Delphite III to be with his wife and has given no good reasons why I should do so. I can't see under staffing the Spacedock or the F.D.C. construction because one of my personnel is homesick. If this is the only excitement in store for me here, then maybe I should grab a loaded phaser now and be done with it. Nah, excitement has to be just around the corner; I can taste it!

"We are understaffed as it is and you want me to authorize sending valuable manpower off the planetside project plus pulling people off Shore Leave to staff a ship just so you can go see your wife when she's going to be transferred here as soon as the project is done anyway? I'm sorry, Specialist Carson, but my answer is no" Grand Fleet Admiral Dartanion Jarrad II frowned apologetically as he eased himself out of his chair at the head of the Conference Table. A dejected looking Carson began to follow suit, but both stopped as a voice from the other end of the table ordered,

"Stand your ground, Specialist!"

"Just what are you doing, Commander?" Jarrad thundered, amazed that someone was countermanding his order.

"You seemed to be having so much fun making decisions and giving orders I decided to give it a try." Commander Brian A.J. O'Camp replied nonchalantly in his light Irish lilt, "Sir, if you would let him finish explaining, there is much more to it than you think". Knowing that his Chief of Operations would not be so presumptuous without good reason, the Commandant of the Star Corps sat and gave the Enlisted man his undivided attention after first giving O'Camp a slight glare to acknowledge his disapproval of the Commander's conduct.

"Sir, my wife is 8 months pregnant and I haven't seen her in a year." as if to answer the obvious question that was forming in Jarrad's mind, as evidenced by his expression, the lanky black man continued, "As far as her being unfaithful, we are _Imzadi_; besides, we had been receiving reports even before I left that a band of renegade Klingons had made an alliance with the Jerichans and were making raids in the sector. I believe they may have invaded the Relay Station and my wife is secretly trying to tell me, which is why I asked Commander O'Camp to see if the _INTENSITY_, whose crew has yet to have their leave authorized, was available to investigate". Jarrad keyed the Conference Room's Comm Panel and stroked his beard as he thought out loud,

"Communications from recent patrols haven't reported anything out of the ordinary…". Which prompted O'Camp to cut in, his accent deepening,

"Adm'ral, but wot if it wair Gwenn we wair talkin' 'bout now?"

"I would probably say transfer the Destroyer's crew to the Heavy Cruiser _DRAKMÄR_, assign Specialist Second Class Carson as a Mission Specialist, and throw in a Marine contingent for good measure. In fact, _Let's Do It_!" Jarrad concluded with his trademark.

"Thank you, SIR!" Carson grinned emphatically as the officers left the room.

"Why hasn't the _INTENSITY's_ crew been relieved yet? I thought I had ordered all transfers finalized two hours ago." Jarrad asked after Carson had left. O'Camp replied smiling,

"You thought correct, Chief, I had anticipated your decision and had the assignments drawn up". Jarrad glowered at O'Camp again and began to say something when his combadge trilled

"Admiral, it is urgent that you come to the ops center at once, _Code 5_!" Upon hearing the words '_Code 5_', Command Parlance for _PERILOUS SITUATION INDICATED_, both officers headed for Ops at a dead run.

It had been five hours since the _DRAKMÄR_ had departed the Spacedock and the Antiproton_ flushback_ had been detected mere moments before it's departure; however, as the _MERCY_ was in the general area, it had been dispatched instead. No one on the Spacedock had any idea that the _MERCY_ herself had contributed to the late _RESOLUTION's_ destruction by getting her to lower her shields as a supposed preliminary to transferring wounded before a cloaked Warbird opened fire.

High Admiral Joe Vitro was furious. His ship had been hijacked, used to help destroy a Federation starship, sent to investigate what it itself had done, and was now being boarded by reinforcements from a Romulan Warbird to further hijack the Starbase he, his ship, and friends called _home_ just to hold a planet hostage. It was a good plan which had worked so far. It would take an even better one to get them out of this mess. As he began to think about his friends back at the _SPACEDOCK CHARLES DARWIN_, quite a few things came to mind about what made them unique and why he would miss them. As he thought about one in particular, an idea began to form in his mind that just _might_ work. _It had to_.

It had taken Fleet Captain Dermon four and a half hours to get to the explosion site as his Warp Engines were _off-line_ and he had fed the Impulse engine into the shields to keep the ship intact so he had had to use the steering thrusters–crude but effective. The Engineer figured it must be revenge for the crack he had made about reaction thrust engines.

Once he had gotten to the site, the scene before him made his stomach turn; a Warbird was just warping away from a battle-scarred _MERCY_, which was running with shields down so it was easy for him to ascertain that the Hospital Ship had received multiple Transporter signals.

Being that he had been the _MERCY's_ original First Officer, and had overseen most of her Engineering research, development, and construction; Dermon was able to successfully create a sensor _hole_ to beam through using the other vessel's '_back door_' Prefix Code. He had hidden the code six months ago in the backup port lateral sensor array's maintenance sweep diagnostic subroutine. He had originally done it to see if it could be done, but now he was in his old quarters because of it with no idea of what to do next.

"Incoming transmission from the _MERCY_", Lieutenant Patti Attero announced from the Communications console.

"On screen" Lieutenant Eric Valentine replied automatically as he stopped his agitated pacing in order to face the Ops Center's Viewscreen, "Greet.." he started to say but was cut off by Vitro.

"O'Camp, the _MERCY_ will be docking in ten minutes, please have all available personnel with Med Training standing by for assignments; _Kosher_ out"

"Transmission has been terminated at the source, sensors indicate damage pattern consistent with explosion above and behind vessel. Sir, they may be unable to receive, only transmit". Valentine sighed, rolled his eyes, and continued pacing. He detested Command Duty as he considered himself a doer rather than a thinker and this led to his tendency to constantly remind others of this.

"Inform Admiral Jarrad of this situation, along with a request for advisement." As the efficient Attero complied, Valentine glanced at her console thinking,

_This situation is getting weird, I don't like this, the _MERCY_ reports in after an obvious battle, bypassing standard comm protocol, Captain Dermon is missing, and I am in Command with no idea of what to do. Jarrad has indicated that it is probably nothing to worry about, so he will advise me after he has surveyed the situation. Well, since '_Kosher_' addressed the transmission to O'Camp, I might as well pass the buck for want of nothing better to do._

O'Camp was in the Ops bay preparing his teaching for the next day's Chapel service. As the Senior Chaplain/ArchBishop for the Alliance Religions Chaplaincy Headquarters (ARCH), he was obligated to visit other worlds' routine expressions of their beliefs and tomorrow, a Bajoran spiritual leader was returning the visit. O'Camp was quite fluent in Bajoran philosophy and had suggested his Bajoran deacon perform a special ceremony for the occasion, or have the Vedek attend the standard weekly ceremony. The Vedek had insisted that since O'Camp had visited his traditional ceremony, he was to visit him ministering the Christian expression of faith. That wasn't the only reason he was looking forward to the _GALLOWAY'S_ return from Bajor. Jarrad's fiancée, Gwenn Scott, was the UNIVERSAL-class Heavy Cruiser's First Officer and O'Camp was hoping her presence would help the Admiral to mellow out. O'Camp himself was looking forward to spending more time with T'Kay, the _GALLOWAY's_ Science Officer. A member of her family had been O'Camp's contact when he'd been stationed on the Romulan homeworld of ch'Rhihan during his tenure with Federation Intelligence.

He was deep in thought on how to incorporate some Bajoran and Drakmärian ideas, for the sake of comparison, when the call came in.

"Commander O'Camp, incoming message from the _MERCY_"

"Confirmed, transfer to my location." As the message repeated itself, O'Camp noted that the hail had occurred five minutes ago. He noted that Vitro had bypassed hail procedure and and used personal names rather than ship designation. Knowing Vitro, that wasn't too unusual. It wasn't until he reached the end of the message that he understood why. Vitro had wanted O'Camp to get this message in specific, as the Surgeon's nickname was _PORK_ and he probably knew that the Chaplain would quickly ascertain that, being _pork_ was not _kosher_, something was not '_kosher_' with _PORK_. On a hunch, he ordered,

"Station condition Red Alert, _intruder alert_." He grabbed an Isolinear Optical Data Chip and fed it's contents into the Main Computer. This would ensure _lockout_ of all _Command functions_ not regulated by the transient population's computer core plus temporary download of specialized functions as authorized by him. He noted with chagrin that whoever the invaders were, they were well-prepared, as the _MERCY's_ message had been used as a carrier for an invasive program to disrupt the Spacedock's _Command recognition files_ in order to give the invaders Command control. That meant O'Camp could not be sure what condition the Spacedock was in, except for the fact that the computer was receiving conflicting Command priorities. He grabbed his tricorder and phaser, making an adjustment on the latter so the intruder intervention program would not recognize it as a weapon and disarm it. He then removed his white duty jacket so he was wearing all black, took a deep preparatory sigh, and stepped out into the darkened hallway.

Valentine was even more agitated than usual as he he blamed himself totally for what had happened. Mere moments after O'Camp's security alert had gone out, three Romulans and a Drakmärian had materialized in the Ops center, with the Drak arriving first. Ensign Janni Dressler, who was monitoring the Tactical/Security Station at the time, drew her phaser when she saw the figure begin to materialize; however, when she noticed the figure was a Drakmärian wearing an Alliance uniform, she hesitated. It had cost her her life. As the Drakmärian held his weapon trained on Eric and Patti, the three other aliens quickly rendered the _SPACEDOCK CHARLES DARWIN_ impotent to their intervention of unauthorized use of Command facilities. Due to the fact that the intruders were all speaking Romulan, Attero was the only one who understood what was going on.

_"Sir, internal sensors are off line and external sensors are limited to passive sweep only"_

_"Weapons?"_

_"They will be on line in five minutes, yet we have no targeting ability"_

_"Transfer target lock to communications hailing systems"_

_"Have you accessed internal systems network yet?"_

_"Negative, Command functions are locked in a network feedback loop"_

_"A What!"_

_"It appears that at the same time our invasive program was taking effect, someone locked out the Command control programs. This station's computer cannot decide which commands to respond to as the commands are contradictory"_

Attero couldn't resist smiling.

High Admiral/Doctor/Starship Commander Joseph Vitro was on the longest walk of his life. His captors had not been pleased with his deception which had resulted in a serious kink being put in their plans. As a punishment, they were taking him back to the Battle Bridge where he was to watch all his crew die one bay at a time, followed by his own death. His body felt numb. He had wanted to take at least two of them out as he always carried a hypo full of '_Klingon happy juice_' —his own special mix— which he had always wanted to try on a Romulan as the formula's effects on Vulcans were very unique…to say the least; that was going to be difficult as his hands were shackled. What Vitro did not know was that Dermon had used his tricorder to have the internal sensors disregard his communicator, effectively '_cloaking_' him. Dermon had then proceeded to the Main Bridge via a service crawl way and, upon hearing of the intruders' intended plans, had headed for the Battle Bridge. The Battle Bridge had a small awning above the turbolift and Zach was in the process of hiding himself there to be above and behind them when they entered. The only problem was when they did enter, he was not fully hidden and his foot was trying to purchase leverage on the point where the lift doors came together. When the lift doors opened, this resulted in the lead Romulan's nose getting a size thirteen patent leather injection courtesy of the good Captain's boot. Zach fell from his hiding place, landing hard on his side. This caused him to accidentally trigger his phaser which struck the rear Romulan, nearly hitting Vitro in the process. This snapped Vitro, whose only thought had been to press the hypo against the nearest Romulan, out of his fugue. Vitro automatically did what he had only been thinking of for the past several hours, narrowly avoiding spraying himself in the process.

"Nice dropping in on old friends" Dermon quipped. As Vitro slumped up against the nearest wall, color began to return to his haggard features.

"Well, it sure took you long enough, young man" Vitro snapped back and reached out his hands to help his former Second-in-Command who was a third his age, to his feet. Dermon pointed his thumb at the scene still on the viewer and asked,

"What's going on?"

"They were forcing me to comply with their demands by threatening to cancel a shield if I refused". Dermon replied by opening his tricorder and using it to access the Ops panel, he sealed and locked the Shuttlebays. Vitro breathed a heavy sigh of relief as Zach phasered the lock off the shackles.

Lieutenant Commander Marc Silver had been in the Holodeck with Lieutenant Vincent Samson, Lieutenant Gorax Tarr-Con, and Commander Larrgn-Z running a very intense calisthenics program when the intruder alert had sounded, the computer lockout discontinuing the program. Silver had complained, but only halfheartedly as Larr's typical Drakmärian idea of fun was taking on five aliens at once while blindfolded, the huge Lunärian Gorax pulverizing anything that came near him, while the catlike Vincent tended to stalk his opponents, once coming within three feet of an unsuspecting Silver. That had unnerved the human Chief of Security, whose size and ex-Marine bearing usually intimidated most anyone long before he had to speak. The four had separated, with Marc heading toward Ops with Tarr-Con and the other two heading toward the Main Docking area. Moments later, Marc and Tarr-Con heard Vincent's throaty roar and knew he had found an intruder. Reflexively, Gorax activated his body's natural _chameleon_ ability just as six Romulans rounded the corner. As he was standing still, they took no notice of him. Silver speed drew his personal phaser, a movement so fast it appeared to the Lunärian that the weapon merely chose that moment to appear in his hand, as he was sure he did not see the human move. It also surprised the six intruders, as they all froze in their tracks, two of them mere inches from Tarr-Con. Silver spoke in a voice that was rumored to have not only sweet-talked a Ferengi into giving something away but also intimidated an infuriated Klingon as his voice was both soft and easy as well as commanding and dead serious,

"Ladies, I think you're heading _nowhere_ fast!", As he fired the phaser, he remembered the anti-intruder program, which he had helped design, would deactivate the weapon once fired. This resulted in only an electronic squeak, which sounded suspiciously like a laugh to the Security Chief, coming out of the phaser. Silver dropped the weapon as the Romulans raised theirs. Gorax deactivated his _chameleon_ ability and flexed his massive arms, sending the two closest aliens flying and resulting in matching Romulan-shaped imprints on the nearest opposing walls as he bellowed,

"Outta my way, mutants!". Two of the remaining Romulans charged Gorax, who merely waited until they were within arms' reach and then clapped his outstretched hands together, catching their heads in his hands as he did. Silver grabbed the intruder closest to him by the shoulders and head-butted him. With the Romulan's heavier bone structure, this had the result of rendering them both unconscious. Seeing Silver collapse to the floor distracted Tarr-Con just enough to forget about the final Romulan who tried to kick the Lunärian in the groin. The massive Alliance officer barely felt the impact but grabbed the intruder by its uniform front and casually, effortlessly lifted the Romulan off the floor. This had the effect of angering the Romulan who began clawing, hitting, and kicking wildly. Gorax was unharmed by the attack but began to get bored of it quickly. He decided to have some fun at the helpless being's expense. He gently shook him to get his attention and then snarled,

"Romulan. Mmmm, very tasty. Lunch!" He then ran his tongue over his now-exposed fang like teeth in an exaggerated motion for emphasis. The Romulan stopped struggling, his eyes went wide, his face went pale, and his eyes then rolled back into his head as he fainted at the potential import of his captor's words.

Admiral Jarrad had gone to make a courtesy call on a couple of Drakmärian Applied Science students who had earned the right to conduct experiments on board the Spacedock as a part of Commander Antoné Hersh's pet project to stimulate interest in his Social Science department. The two students had come up with a theory on using the facility's M/ARA units to continuously '_sweep-charge_' the Nuclear Batteries while on _active standby_. So far, it had worked very successfully, they had kept the Station working at peak efficiency while at only a third power, and the M/ARA unit had been brought fully _on-line_ in a _quarter_ of the time. The technology had been fascinating, yet the program was so complicated the Admiral could only nod and smile, feeling totally ignorant.

As he was in the same area, he had taken the opportunity to visit Commander Pr'gn, his personal miracle worker who had been born human yet raised Drakmärian. The Engineer was in the process of upgrading the Marine Combat Shuttle AVENGER. Jarrad had a policy of making himself as approachable as possible, and especially now that his ship was being rebuilt, he wanted to remind his crew that he hadn't forgotten them. When the _intruder alert_ had come in, he had ordered his former Chief Engineer to secure the section's Maintenance Area while he secured the Shuttlebay When he had had his first posting, he had been in charge of Shuttlebay Security, so sweeps like this were a second nature to him. On concluding his sweep, he glanced out toward the _MERCY_ and almost died of shock, one of the Medical Shuttles had left the ship and was bearing down on him at an incredible rate! As Jarrad ran and dove for cover, the _MME. CURIE_ smashed into the _AVENGER_, plowing it into the Runabout _TRAIL OF TEARS_, all of which continued to wreak havoc on half a dozen brand-new ROGUE class Corvettes. Jarrad groaned at the carnage, until he spotted the Runabout, then his Cherokee blood began to boil. He stormed over to the Medical Shuttle, viciously kicked in the remainder of the shattered window and prepared himself to deal out some pain. All he saw was a dozen shattered bodies wearing Alliance uniforms and a six year old girl who was only barely alive, according to Jarad's tricorder. As he removed her small body to the bay's deck she collapsed. His racing mind chose that moment to forget how to perform Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation. His training kicked in and he automatically slapped his combadge,

"Jarrad to Vitro, Medical Emergency!" Vitro's voice came back, calm and devoid of its usual obnoxious timbre,

"What is the problem?"

"A young girl has just gone into cardiac arrest! I can't remember how to.. you know!"

For the next five minutes, Vitro instructed Jarrad how to fight the most difficult fight of his life, that of breathing life back into a young girl. As Jarrad confirmed a steady pulse and respiration, he chuckled with relief. The intense stress of the moment flowed to the surface and the chuckle turned into a howling laugh which caused his eyes to tear, which turned into a full blown weeping. Soon this too subsided; and Jarrad, emotionally drained, collapsed to the floor, exhausted. The young girl reached over, put her arms around Jarrad's neck and curled up next to him.

As soon as Pr'gn had secured the maintenance area, he picked up the sword he had just fabricated out of some scrap metal. He had once taken a course in Drakmärian sword crafting and believed his instructor would be quite pleased with his makeshift T'Kwn. He had heard some voices coming down the hall and they did not sound familiar. In fact, they sounded ..._Romulan_! He raised the sword over his head, let out a blood-curdling battle cry and charged the intruders. They were so caught off guard they broke and ran. Pr'gn chased the four Romulans through five sections before they came to a Turbolift which was locked. The aliens turned to face him and, as soon as they noticed he was alone, they raised their weapons and fired. Since the _invasive program_ had allowed for only phasers to be recognized by the _anti-intruder program_, the four beams slammed him spreadeagled against the nearest wall. As the stun effect began to take hold, Pr'gn heard himself say,

"Nice reflexes!"

The Klingon Battlecruiser _ESIRPRETNE_ and her escorts, the Birds of Prey _VAD_ and _K'NUUS_ had been used to transport the Klingon Ambassador and his contingent/entourage to represent the Empire at the Alliance's formal Declaration of Independence from the Federation and it's Starfleet Upon hearing that the Spacedock had been hijacked, they had been quick to return to offer assistance. Primus Dr'kn-Z had readily accepted as a Spacedock Megaphaser lock on the Capitol City had already been confirmed.

O'Camp had successfully found his way to his quarters, where he had traded his duty boots for the calf-high soft duty boots that he had purchased from a member of the Drakmärian Royal Guard. He then slid his special _ankle brace_ on over his right boot as the Guardian's footwear were designed to be close fitting with special padding in key areas. He grabbed his 2 1/2 foot long short sword in its special telescoping polymer scabbard as well. He then proceeded to the docking area, using the Turbolift service crawl way. Ten minutes later he found he had to stop as the air was quite dank being that the air conditioning systems were not functioning.

As he gazed out the nearest access panel, he saw a figure below him and recognized him in the dimness as Pr'gn. His mind foggy from the exertion and lack of fresh air, O'Camp didn't even think to look before he swung himself down to the deck below.

"Hello cousin, hate to interrupt your evening stroll, but we've been invaded". The two had developed a slight kinship after the family who had adopted the Engineer had sponsored O'Camp as a student of the T'Bias Institute of Science and Technology Pr'gn frowned as he pointed behind the young Irish Chaplain.

"Try telling me something I _don't_ know". The four Romulans behind the Spacedock's Executive Officer quickly relieved him of his weapons. O'Camp groaned as he thought.

_Lord, If only I would have waited another ten seconds, I could have freed him!_

They were in the process of heading toward a Maintenance Cargo Hold when the two Alliance officers made their bid for freedom. The lead Romulan covered the group from ten feet away as another activated the door mechanism. O'Camp started to turn to enter the hold but halfway through his step, he shifted his weight and violently whipped his leg around into a smashing roundhouse kick that knocked his victim into the line of fire of the leader just as he fired. O'Camp tucked and rolled away from the unconscious alien, reaching for his _ankle brace_ as he did. Simultaneously Pr'gn swung the Romulan next to him into the nearest wall, tripping him as he bounced off. O'Camp rolled into a crouch, left arm extended, fired two shots from the previously concealed mini-phaser with stunning (no pun intended, but there anyway) accuracy, whirled to face the other two and fired at the remaining alien just as it was drawing a point-blank bead on Pr'gn's head. The two gathered their weapons and had just finished depositing the invaders into the cargo hold when Pr'gn happened to look out a nearby port, spotting the three approaching Klingon vessels.

"Good deal! Help is on the way! We got the Klingon cavalry!". His elation was short-lived as the lights dimmed further. Pr'gn shot O'Camp a puzzled look (which the Chief of Operations could barely see) who merely shrugged (ditto the reverse). They then watched in horror as three Megaphaser blasts destroyed the _K'NUUS_, the _VAD_ peeled away and was rewarded with a barrage of photon torpedoes. The explosion quickly disappeared, the ill-fated vessel with it. The _ESIRPRETNE_ was primarily a Courier Vessel whose prime mission was the safe transport of important cargo. Therefore, since the Ambassador was aboard and their target was not their enemy, the Battlecruiser fired a futile barrage of disruptor fire to cover its escape.

"What a waste" Pr'gn muttered as he stared at the already dissipating debris.

"The intruders have control of Ops, we have to get there fast!" O'Camp stated.

"As far as I can tell, everything below level B10 is off line, so the Transporter in the Maintenance Area should work." Pr'gn replied. As soon as they got there, the engineer announced,

"Blast! The system is on-line, yet there is no power feed to the quantum resolution scanner, so only inanimate objects can be safely transported"

"Here, attach this to the systems access auxiliary power feed" O'Camp responded handing Pr'gn his phaser.

"If its okay with you, I'll simply realign the system's operational frequency to that of the phaser's and completely activate the whole system" Pr'gn snapped back sarcastically. O'Camp chuckled and asked,

"Where would I find a subspace transmission shunt?" Pr'gn pointed, saying,

"Over there next to the ODN network access, NO! That's the EPS power tap! Two rows down, third drawer over. Why?"

"Because of the lockout and subsequent network feedback loop, internal sensors are off line and I am going to use the _MERCY's_ prefix code to access her sensors to tell the Transporter where we are going" O'Camp answered.

"Thought so." An amazed Pr'gn replied. Within moments, both of them had completed their tasks. O'Camp's tricorder was providing a dedicated linkup with the Hospital Ship's sensors and the phaser had sufficiently charged the system for one double transport. Pr'gn retrieved the three-quarter depleted phaser from the Transporter as O'Camp brought out his mini-phaser once again.

"Pardon the dumb question, but wouldn't it be easier to conceal that on your forearm?" Pr'gn queried. O'Camp frowned and chuckled,

"Yes it is, in fact I once had it there until I accidentally stunned my hand while drawing it. Made aiming and firing it off-hand quite difficult as it was still attached to my stunned arm." Pr'gn laughed at the mental picture and said,

"Speaking of stunned, you might want to know that as we are going to be transporting along a level of phased energy that normally would stun on contact, our central nervous systems will probably be frazzled by the transporter effect." O'Camp replied by pointing to the buckle on the belt his sword was attached to.

"I'll just switch this little baby on, it's a phased energy absorption field generator."

"You've got a phaser-proof belt?" Pr'gn exclaimed.

"Not exactly, it is designed to absorb phase disruptive energy, phase rectification energy causes an imbalance in the field which takes a couple seconds to reset." O'Camp answered heading toward the pad. As he joined him, the Engineer reported,

"I have set the controls to beam me in front of the aft hallway access and you to the left of the forward secondary internal monitors. Be ready for a rough ride in three seconds."

Lieutenant Valentine was in agony. The leader of the Romulan invaders had taken his two aides with him when he had departed and the Drak traitor had been left to take care of the two officers. Attero had spoken to the P'linza in his native tongue, which had distracted him, or so Eric had thought as he had tried to relieve the traitor of his weapon. _BIG mistake_! The Drakmärian had hardly even moved and Eric had wound up flat on his back with two broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder. Attero had tried to make him as comfortable as possible after the traitor had thrown them into the Ops escape pod and deactivated the ejection mechanism.

Moments after he had completed his task, he was in the process of following his comrades when O'Camp and Pr'gn materialized at their destinations. Pr'gn was closer, so the alien opened fire on him. Fortunately, the phasing effect so dazed the Engineer, he staggered after he solidified, and the shots missed him. O'Camp was not in a position to fire, so he maneuvered for position as the Drakmärian Recoilless Automatic Caseless gun seemed to elect him as its next target. As O'Camp dove for cover and fired wild, he was showered with sparks. O'Camp soon realized he was not the intended target, rather it was behind him as the weapon was tearing apart the airlock door and a scream was emanating from there! Both O'Camp and Pr'gn recovered and fired simultaneously, knocking the Drak out of commission.

Attero informed O'Camp of the intruders' destination, the Docking Area, and Pr'gn began to use his phaser to open the damaged door as O'Camp replaced his phaser to recharge it, relieved the fallen Drak of his weapon, and borrowed Valentine's tricorder before following the intruders.

Jarrad had gotten his strength back and had headed for Ops, arriving well after O'Camp's departure. Pr'gn, who had just released the two Duty Officers, looked up from helping Attero minister to Valentine's injuries and announced,

"Ops is secure, sir. Computer lockout is still in effect and _Command recognition files_ have been erased so the main system is still _off-line_ and we can't get in." Jarrad motioned for the junior officer to join him at the Science Computer access and smiled,

"Then it appears we have a job to do, my friend. If you will make the necessary adjustments down below, I will try to access the computer." As Pr'gn replied by removing the access panel, Jarrad turned to the little girl and said,

"Honey, I need you to watch this screen and let me know what is happening." She nodded and smiled, eager to help. The Admiral then opened his tricorder and began accessing the Terminal's manual controls, all the while wondering why the little girl seemed so familiar.

Larrgn-Z and Samson were in the process of securing the main docking area when the Romulans arrived. Larr had just completed the lockouts for the _CYGNUS_ and was about to enter the intersecting hallway to do the same for the half-finished _ARCHANGEL_. He almost sensed the Romulans the instant before they rounded the corner. As the first one did, he was greeted with a flying side kick that sent him reeling backwards into his seven comrades. They were caught off guard and the Drakmärian Crown Prince took his opportunity to have some fun without the added inconvenience of the Holodeck safeguards. He was smile-deep in Romulan blood when seemingly out of nowhere came a furry bolt of lightning along with a thundering throaty roar–Vincent Samson, one of only a few known quarter-breeds as his ancestors were Vulcan, Molodorian, Caitian, and Human.

The two Alliance officers had an easy victory over the invaders.

"Couldn't let me have all the fun, eh Lieutenant? Anyway, nice decorating job" Larr chuckled as he straightened his tunic. Puzzled, Vincent replied in his silk-on gravel voice,

"Sir?" the catlike alien was not known for his conversational talent. Slapping his comrade on the shoulder, Larr quipped while pointing at the unconscious forms scattered throughout the hallway,

"Wall-to-wall Romulan floor covering, I like it, careful now, or you may wind up setting a precedent with my people. But then, you could also make a fortune if you instate a copyright; if you do, you can use me as witness." Samson appeared to have no reaction as was his custom. Commander Z shrugged and turned to tie up the intruders, it was then that that the quarter breed allowed himself a rare smile.

O'Camp had made it almost all the way to the docking area when he noticed a surge on the Maintenance Area's power grid reading on his tricorder, he accessed the source and discovered that an explosive device had been attached to the trilithium flush valve–if activated, that could cause a _containment breach_ and the resulting explosion would poison Drakmär IV's atmosphere!

He scrambled back to the hatchway, this time remembering to look before he leaped. As he approached the maintenance area, he pulled the DRAC out of his belt, praying that he wouldn't have to use it.

"Sir! Sir! The screen is acting all weird! Look! Look!" the young girl shouted, grabbing Jarrad's tunic and pointing at the screen. Jarrad looked at the screen in dismay. The initialization authorization codes were being routed through Starbase 417, so the subspace transmission to obtain them would take 11 hours. Jarrad then informed Pr'gn of the situation. The Engineer groaned and then exclaimed excitedly,

"No, it can't be! Hey, wild! That must have been set up on purpose! What does the display say now?"

"Operations _fail-safe_ in effect, access through auxiliary network only", Jarrad paused, then asked "What _did_ you do?". Sliding out from under the Access Panel, Pr'gn smiled,

"The _tell-tale_ indicated I needed a five-digit code to access the Ops lockout, and when you said 41711, I tried it and Ops downloaded the backup Command Files from the auxiliary computer core aboard the _ARCHANGEL_."

"Jarrad to Vitro, I need you in Ops, Lieutenant Valentine has been injured. We may also need you to join us in the Spacedock's auxiliary computer core to establish a Command linkup in case we can't get the computer on line." Jarrad's voice came over Vitro's recently replaced communicator. The Doctor, who was standing at the entrance to the main Jeffries' tube access to the _MERCY's_ own computer core handing tools to Dermon who appeared to have been swallowed up to his knees by the tube, replied,

"Gotcha, I'm on my way, how about I have Dermon meet you instead, as that's more his line of work." As he said this, Vitro slapped Dermon on an exposed calf. Up inside the tube, there was a sound of something solid hitting metal, followed by Dermon murmuring '_foul, filth, mumble, grumble_' and the Engineer shifted his weight and kicked at the Hospital Ship's Captain. Vitro moved just enough to miss the kick, which resulted in Dermon's shin striking the opening of the tube, causing the Engineer to lose his balance and fall out of the tube, landing in a heap at the feet of Admiral Vitro who quipped,

"That's twice you've fallen for me today Captain, I didn't know you cared. Sorry, but you're not exactly my type." As soon as the Surgeon stopped laughing hysterically, he said,

"By the way, Admiral _Beefcake_ wants to talk to you." Rubbing his sore leg, Dermon tapped his re-adjusted communicator and said

"Yo, _Dart_' what's up?" Ignoring the Engineer's abuse of his given name…again, Jarrad replied,

"I need you to join Pr'gn and myself on deck B10, we are going to try to access the Command files from the auxiliary core"

"Gotcha, by the way, what was the access code you used to get into the system?" Pr'gn told him and asked why,

"Well, someone is using the _MERCY's_ computer to run key systems on your end and I can't get in"

"Try shutting down the sensors for the Transporters, O'Camp has a tricorder creating a dedicated linkup" Pr'gn replied

O'Camp was sweating. There were three Romulans, the leader had just left to go get the ship they intended to leave the Station on the moment before he'd gotten there. O'Camp cautiously made his way to where the second Romulan was setting the bomb. As soon as he got within ten feet of him, O'Camp began to raise his weapon. Suddenly, the Romulan whirled, a disruptor in his own hand. Due to the distance, O'Camp surged forward into a side kick. He remembered at that moment he had made a mental note not to use that move, but couldn't recall why. As the kick connected, he remembered. As the gun went, so did the seat of his pants. The alien tried to get away, but the only avenue of escape was blocked by O'Camp, so he tried to go through the Chief of Operations. O'Camp rolled with the impact and came into a crouch, his adversary's angle of attack causing his wrist to be twisted in a highly unnatural way, causing him to lose his grip on the DRAC. The Romulan had landed closer to the gun and so dove for it, scooping it up as O'Camp drew his Wakazashi sword from its special telescoping scabbard. The powerful blade came into contact with the weapon's barrel just as it was being brought to bear, shattering it. Having been an Intelligence Analyst for three years before joining the Alliance, O'Camp spoke Rihannsu, his opponent's native tongue, quite fluently,

_"Enough of this, I have no wish to kill you!"_

_"You are human, yet you speak my tongue, how?"_. The Romulan, though confused, seemed to relax somewhat. O'Camp broke a primary rule of Intelligence with his next words. He gave away his most closely guarded secret, his former cover,

_"I am Major Kariygg of the Tal Shi'ar, and I have been assigned here."_ Upon hearing the name of the feared Romulan Intelligence Corp, the intruder went for his fallen disruptor. O'Camp saw that it was laying next to the open plasma stream containment access panel which was providing power to the bomb and shouted,

**_"STOP!"_** Too late. The Commander watched in dismayed horror as the humanoid grabbed the weapon, which, due to its proximity to the stream, acted as a conductor for its pure, raging energy upon being grounded by the being's body which was instantly ionized.

"So, you are Tal Shi'ar, huh, I always wondered what one of them looked like…" O'Camp turned, preparing to make a witty yet sarcastic comment on his own looks, when the voice finished, "...on the _INSIDE_!" O'Camp instinctively raised his sword, just in time block an obviously makeshift T'Kwn from changing the part in his hair. O'Camp's hands stung from the sudden, fierce blow; but he was rewarded with the satisfaction that his sword had rendered the other one useless, for his sword had once been damaged by a real T'Kwn. The Romulan threw the remainder of his sword at O'Camp, who ducked as the alien scrambled up the nearest ladder. O'Camp expected his antagonist to wait at the top of the short ladder with a disruptor in hand, so he ran forward and, using his sword for leverage, vaulted himself to the other end of the raised walkway. O'Camp had guessed right, but had miscalculated his jump. He crashed into the Romulan and both of them had to release their weapons to avoid falling into the M/ARA chamber's pit one floor below. The alien threw a punch, which O'Camp blocked with an inside right, then straightened his arm and snapped the block into a backhand. Using the natural spin from his swing, he then spun into into a flying roundhouse. This knocked the wind out of the Romulan, who fell off the walkway to the floor below. O'Camp wasted no time racing to and sliding down the ladder, while shouting,

"You Romulans always did hit like infant female Ferengis. Care for a lesson on how a real man fights?" As soon as he reached the bottom of the ladder, something solid hit him in the left shoulder, slamming him into the nearest wall.

_Very good, you learn fast, Dear Lord that hurt!_ O'Camp thought as he struggled to all fours. He soon found that his left arm would not respond; he looked and discovered that his shoulder was bleeding profusely. O'Camp finally got to his feet, facing the Romulan who dropped the now emptied DRAC, and switched on the detonator. It had originally been programmed for ten minutes, however the timer had somehow been damaged and the numbers were now racing by! O'Camp's first reaction was to try and rescue the intruder, but the Maintenance Shield, which was now lowering, would trap them both. Instead, the Alliance officer ran for the door. He figured it was futile anyway, as the _cascade effect_ of the explosion would destroy the entire facility. He didn't realize that since the students' experiment had not been shut down, the M/ARA unit was only in a passive '_powered-down_' mode and the Main Power was being routed through the Nuclear Batteries.

When the device exploded, O'Camp figured it was a _fizzle_, as he heard the explosion, which knocked him to the floor, and when he opened his eyes what he saw was not his idea of Heaven. He was only part right. The explosion had disrupted the plasma stream, causing the primary converters to default the energy transference to the secondary inducer coils, which were in standby, causing them to overload. The fail-safe immediately shut the system down, the energy buildup soon began to cause feedback within the trilithium injector as there was now no plasma field in which to release the energy. The feedback itself just happened to be the same frequency as the '_sweep-charge_', so the transference algorithm fed pure, unregulated plasma along with twenty times the batteries' charging limit worth of unprimed energy, causing an immediate meltdown. this resulted in an energy rebound from all three nuclear batteries converging simultaneously on the '_crashed_' inducer coils. To O'Camp, all this lasted less than five seconds, yet the effect was impressive; for the second explosion threw him all the way across the next bay, where he slammed into the door, which then opened. It also had the effect of causing the orbit of the _SPACEDOCK CHARLES DARWIN_ to deteriorate, sending it slowly plummeting toward T'Bias!

Grand Fleet Admiral Jarrad and the two Engineers had just gotten the auxiliary computer to accept basic Command functions, and the senior officer was in the process of initializing vocal access, when the deck lurched violently beneath them.

"Computer, source of disturbance?" a concerned Dermon asked as soon as Jarrad had completed his task.

"An explosive device has been detonated on deck A6", the artificial intelligence replied matter-of-factly. As Pr'gn called up a station-wide level 4 diagnostic, Jarrad raised his voice and called out,

"Jarrad to O'Camp". No response. Irritated, Jarrad tried again,

"Jarrad to…oh, forget this! Computer, location of Commander Brian A.J. O'Camp?"

"Commander O'Camp is presently on deck A6", Jarrad mumbled to himself,

"I hope that explosion wasn't another of his bright ideas"

"I hope not too, for due to the explosion, we're only operating on Solar Batteries, and our orbit is deteriorating!" Pr'gn answered the Admiral, fighting an edge of panic.

"This is the _SPACEDOCK CHARLES DARWIN_ to any vessel who can hear this, we have a _CODE 6 RED_, I repeat, a _CODE 6 RED_ situation, _please respond_!"

Vitro had just finished placing Valentine in the Station's Infirmary, leaving Attero in charge of Ops. Ensign Marco, the Duty Nurse, was helping him minister to the Lieutenant when the explosion threw the men to the ground. As the Lieutenant was already unconscious, the two Medics ran to find out what had happened. As the turbolift was not working, it took them a few minutes. When they finally arrived, both of them stared at the carnage in front of them, there were piles of twisted metal everywhere, and at the far end of the hallway, was a figure lying in a pool of blood!

"Marco, go back and get my Med Kit" the Ensign stood rooted to the spot, in fascinated shock. In their mutual native tongue, Italian, Vitro shouted,

_"Now, Ensign! That was an order, not a suggestion! Unless you want an 'N' in front of your 'CO'!"_, that snapped the Medic to attention, who then took off.

As the Medic returned, Jarrad and the two Engineers showed up. All three asked simultaneously,

"How is he?" Vitro started to reply, but stopped as O'Camp struggled to say something. Admiral Jarrad, who was closest to his friend's head, mused aloud, puzzled,

" _'Tell the computer to open their way'_, Now what is **that** supposed to mean?"

Just then, the gruff, familiar voice of Larrgn-Z piped up right behind him speaking in Romulan, nearly startling the young Admiral out of his skin,

"Try this: _Computer, open all locked out functions…Authorization–Larrgn-Z, omicron 18._" The computer chirped its compliance. Dumbfounded, everyone stared at Larr, who replied,

"Simple, he must have figured that if you want to hide something, hide it in the most obvious place so the ones looking for it won't look for it where it is". Jarrad then asked Vitro while nodding toward O'Camp,

"How is he?" Vitro frowned while opening the kit,

"Not good, he's lost a lot of blood, he has broken bones..." there was a warble from the tricorder and Vitro went into full doctor mode

"He's gone into shock! give me fifty ml's Tricordrazine with a Cotiyk booster, thanks; now the Protoplaser and the Anabolic stabilizer, thanks; I need six pressure patches...!"

For the next ten minutes, Vitro's hands were a businesslike blur, everyone doing their part to help him, even Jarrad found himself following the Surgeon's orders–which Jarrad was hoping was not a precedent. Joe leaned forward and said, out loud, into his patient's ear,

"Commander, I _order_ you to wake up, _NOW_!", in response to everyone's puzzled stares, Vitro said, "Hearing is the last to go, besides, it worked the time I tried it at Khitomer".

**_I was in a long, dark hallway, surrounded by quiet stillness. The kind of quiet stillness one finds in a forest following a storm. It made sense, as I had led a particularly stormy life until recently. I then noticed a shaft of light. As I approached it, I realized I had no physical essence. A figure appeared bathed in a pure white light that was bright beyond intense and I could feel the overwhelming power and love flowing toward me. Just as I was about to rush forward and embrace this majestic presence, another appeared. This one was female. As I headed toward the figures, one approached me. I instinctively knew who she was and the sense of loss I'd been living with was replaced with joy at being in her presence again. When I spoke it seemed more than just words were being conveyed as there was a sense of euphoria and each word sounded like a song to me,_**

_**"I have missed you, my love, it has been a long five years", her response came, not really a voice, rather an empathic understanding small still voice inside my heart,**_

_**"I too have missed you, yet it has been but a brief moment to me. You are still needed, you must go back. Fear not, for I shall be awaiting your return. Fare thee well, my love". I felt myself falling upward and shouted,**_

_**"PRAISE THE LORD!", and the pain came rushing back with a vengeance. **_

Finally, O'Camp murmured something, to which Joe whispered '_Amen_' in response to. Dermon asked,

"What did he say", Vitro replied honestly,

"_Praise the Lord_", Dermon asked what his response was and Joe hedged, smiling,

"I said, '_No it's just me, your friendly neighborhood Surgeon General_'. Oh, and Marco, about your change in rank." the Ensign groaned as Vitro's stubbornness was as legendary as his sense of humor, "Job well done, **Lieutenant**!", Vitro smiled a _had-you-going-there-didn't-I_ smile at the Medic as the junior officer heaved a sigh of relief. The intercom beeped and Attero's voice announced,

"Admiral Jarrad, the _LARRGN-Z_ and the _GALLOWAY_ have responded to our call and will arrive within moments, they are requesting permission to lock on tractors and hold us in position", at the name of the latter vessel, Jarrad broke into a big grin and responded,

"Oh yeah, you know it babe..I mean, uh, _permission granted_". As Vitro began to stabilize O'Camp, Larr said,

"He is a true Drakmärian patriot", Vitro glanced at the Drakmärian Crown Prince quizzically and Larr recited the '_Patriot's Crisis_' quote and Vitro nodded.

Two hours later, teams from the _LARRGN-Z_ and the _GALLOWAY_ along with some help from the crew of the Klingon vessel _ESIRPRETNE_, had been able to restore the _SPACEDOCK CHARLES DARWIN_ to some semblance of normalcy, just in time to receive the _DRAKMÄR_, returning from its mission.

Specialist Second Class Joshua Carson had been correct in his assumption concerning the condition of the vital Relay Station. The Jerichans had been using the Alliance facility to ascertain local activity via the coded subspace transmissions that were '_celled_' through its antennae. No longer. Neither the Jerichans nor the Klingons knew what hit them. Both races' ships were docked when the Alliance vessel appeared. To be on the safe side, the _DRAKMÄR's_ Captain used the phasers to fry the docking latches as he had the lone female, Lieutenant Commander Bonnie Carson, beamed aboard. But not before she had singlehandedly managed to neutralize both ships' boarding parties. Both alien ships, realizing they were no match for the Heavy Cruiser especially since they were both stuck to the Station, were easily held at bay until Starfleet arrived. Once aboard, she quickly removed the pregnancy prosthesis and transponder setup that had tricked the intruders into thinking her helpless

The Romulan prisoners, 45 in all, were being herded into three Cargo Shuttles that were to be loaded onto the Shuttlecarrier _LUZERNE_ for transport to a rendezvous with a confinement vessel. The lone Drakmärian P'linza had already been transported to the planet to face execution.

O'Camp was being escorted by the _GALLOWAY's_ Klingon Science Officer to the loading deck as he had insisted on seeing things to the end and Joe had had no problem with him getting around with an escort. O'Camp was temporarily relieved of duty, an '_honorary civilian_' for the time being. As they entered the area, T'Kay asked,

"How are you feeling?", O'Camp turned toward her, his right arm around her shoulders as his left arm was immobilized and looked at her with his right eye, as Vitro had requested that he wear his eye patch rather than using anti-rejection drugs on his cloned implant eye. Not that using any extra drugs would have changed anything as he was aching all over and somewhat nauseous already. O'Camp knew that that was mostly due to the Cotiyk booster, for when the host drug for the booster wore off, the Cotiyk attached itself to the patient's RNA, and since O'Camp had had several first-level RNA sequences added during his years with Intelligence to aid him in his work Vitro had neutralized them during surgery. As soon as this had worn off, the RNA had kicked backed in, bringing with it the side effects it usually had at original insertion. As soon as those wore off, he would once again have back his linguistics and martial arts expertise along with some other classified abilities. He spoke, his voice somewhat hoarse,

"Except for hurting in places I didn't know I had and being sicker than I thought possible, fine dear heart", that elicited a chuckle from her as well as one from Admiral Jarrad, who had just come up behind him. Just then, the Carsons and their daughter appeared. Joshua spoke,

"I understand that I have you to thank for having both of my special ladies here." As Jarrad looked at the girl it suddenly hit him: _That's where I knew the little girl from! I saved the life of my Academy roommate's sister's daughter! Daria was named after me!_ Until now, he had never met his late former roommate's twin sister, but her daughter's face echoed Cadet Christopher 'Papa' Jerr's who had been among Starfleet's oldest Cadets at the time.

That evening, as all had assembled to a special dinner in honor of the conclusion of the events that day, Vitro, who had taken it upon himself to tell everyone about the '_Patriot's Crisis_' quote, stood and proposed a toast, glancing around as he did,

"Thank God this '_Patriot's Crisis_' is over!" and shouts of approval rang out.

Station Log; Grand Fleet Admiral Dartanion T. Jarrad II Commanding, Stardate: 48910.3, Things are beginning to return to normal around here. I think I respect the laid back routine a little more once I found out what wishing for a little action will get me. Those who died have been buried with full Drakmärian honors. The _DAV GLADIATOR_, currently under construction here, has been re-christened the _RESOLUTION II_ in honor of the fallen vessel.

NOTES: I'd actually started writing this around the same time the Bruce Willis blockbuster DIE HARD and all its imitators came out. In fact, the working title _Last to Surrender_ was the original title for the Steven Seagal movie UNDER SIEGE. After seeing the movie several too many times in one week, someone in our club asked "what would it be like if one of our ships were invaded?" Everyone thought it would be a great idea to write as a group. No one actually got to writing it until I started and I happened to be in charge of the 'Spacedock' chapter of the club. It was intended as a collaborative effort and I put in all the ideas that had been brainstormed. I meant to change some of the heroics as done by O'Camp to other names but as the project gradually became my own I decided I was having too much fun with it. Admittedly there are a few plot holes since I deleted part of a scene which came off as being silly. Overall I'm satisfied with the result and since I won the award with it, I guess someone thought enough of it to vote for it. The title actually came from a book of quotations which contained one by Thomas Paine written in 1776.


End file.
